


Out of Practice

by PrussianInAmerica



Series: Vader Wouldn't Have Put Up with You [7]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Annoying Kylo, Babysitting, Established Relationship, Hair Braiding, M/M, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 01:44:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6033508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrussianInAmerica/pseuds/PrussianInAmerica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hux is having a shitty day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of Practice

**Author's Note:**

> _”Imagine person A braiding person B’s hair.”_ [otpprompts](http://www.otpprompts.tumblr.com)
> 
> I don't know what happened. It really was supposed to be cute fluff this time. I'm sorry. The next one will be. I've already started writing it and I'm not sure how it could possibly turn into angst. Also, things get a little physical in this one, which was also not planned. Looking back, that was probably where it decided it didn't want to be fluff. There's nothing more than a bit of hair tugging, so no need to worry about it for those of you who don't want to or can't read smut. It does get fluffier towards the end.
> 
> Please let me know if you find any mistakes or errors.
> 
> EDIT 2/18/16: Changed Hux's pet name for Kylo of "Liebchen" to "Lieber" on advice from [Lichtbringer](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Lichtbringer)

“I need your hair.”

Not the first time he’d heard someone say that, but it was certainly much stranger coming from Hux. Kylo tried not to show his surprise, affecting a bored expression and turning the page of the Star Wars comic he’d been reading when his boyfriend had come home.

“Well, if you take very good care of yours maybe one day it'll be as amazing as mine.” He glanced over the back of the couch. Hux’s cheeks were flushed from the cold but he wasn’t shivering, so he must’ve taken the bus back home rather than walked. He never liked taking the bus. It always left him in a snippy mood, which Kylo could exacerbate with the right responses. It took time, but was always worth it.

“No,” The other student argued, taking off his coat and hanging it on the hook labeled GENERAL WEASLEY. “I need to borrow yours.”

Kylo closed his comic and set it on the coffee table, a good distance away from the cup of coffee he’d made this morning but hadn’t touched since. “That’s not how hair works, Huxy.” He got up on his knees and turned to fold his arms across the back of the couch.

“I’m babysitting my niece tomorrow night and I promised I would braid her hair next time I saw her. I’m out of practice.” He paused. “And don’t call me that.”

“You have a niece?”

“And three sisters. You have wonderful listening skills, lieber.” The older man added, sitting down and unlacing his boots. He always got more German after talking with his family.

“I know _that_. Whose kid is she?”

Hux sighed. If Kylo stopped here and didn’t try to annoy Hux any more than he already had the older man’s mood would dissipate over the next hour, especially if he had something to do with his hands. If he continued, he could get up to three sighs before Hux really got upset. “Lucina. Can I use your hair or not?”

“Why can’t you ask someone else?” Kylo was never good at stopping when he should.

The boots were neatly placed under the coat, heels pressed to the wall. “I could, but then either they would have to come here or I would have to leave again. _You_ are conveniently here already.”

Kylo sighed dramatically and pushed himself so he could drape his upper body over the edge of the couch. His hair fell around his face, blocking his view of everything but the floor and the back of the couch, and he came closer than he’d like to falling off the piece of furniture completely. “Is that all I am to you? Convenient hair?” He asked when he was sure he was going to stay where he was.

“Yes.” Hux stood and walked over to where Kylo hung. “Are you done?”

“Maybe.”

The other man sighed again - _two sighs!_ \- and threaded the fingers of his left hand through Kylo’s hair. It felt nice. Until the fingers twisted into a grip and pulled his head up so he could see Hux’s face. It seemed a little early for physical signs of anger. Maybe he’d underestimated how annoyed the bus ride had made the other man…

“Are you going to let me braid your hair or are you going to continue trying to rile me up?” He asked, evenly.

Kylo grinned. “Can’t I do both?”

“Knowing you? Yes.” Hux tightened his grip and tugged his head a bit further back. His neck was starting to hurt a little, but he could take it for awhile longer. “Choose one. _Carefully_.”

”Well, this is pretty fun. You’re the one who wanted to braid my hair.”

A third sigh. “Fine.” His hair was released and Hux walked back over to his boots. Kylo would tell no one about how upon being dropped he’d smashed his face into their couch and slipped off it to land in an undignified heap on the floor. “I’ll be back later.”

By the time Kylo got his wits about him again, Hux had one of his boots on and was busy lacing its twin up. “What?”

”I don’t have the patience for this tonight. I need to practice, study, and some point I’d like to take a shower. You’re being difficult, which always ends with me not having done anything I set out to do. I’ll just ask Rey.” He finished lacing his boot and stood to retrieve his coat.

”What happened?”

”Nothing happened. I just don’t want to deal with your bullshit tonight. Don’t wait up.” He left the apartment quietly, closing the door with a small _click_ that could have been anyone leaving.

Kylo sat up and stared at the door. Hux didn’t react like this. He snarked right back at his boyfriend’s sarcasm and dramatics, and when he was really angry they switched from words to fists. It was a set of variables he was used to. Walking away wasn’t a variable for this kind of interaction.

He stood and opened the door again, looking out into the hallway to find Hux on the other end of it. He wasn’t quite to the stairs yet and the taller man quickly closed the distance between them, catching him right at the edge.

Kylo wrapped his arms around the redhead, pressing his chest to the shorter man’s back and bending his neck to rest his forehead on his shoulder. “Come back. We can watch Game Grumps and you can give me hair like Padme’s on Geonosis.”

Huffing a laugh, Hux brought one of his hands up to Kylo’s arms. That was as close to an apology as he would get from the man-child. “You don’t have enough hair for that and I don’t have that kind of skill.”

”You can learn.” Kylo declared as he awkwardly walked them backwards to their door.

”You still won’t have enough hair.”

”Hair grows.”

”Left.”

”What?”

”You’re veering too far right, you need to go–“ The warning was just a little too slow, and Kylo walked them right into a wall. He hissed in pain, despite the relatively gentle collision. “What?”

The taller man continued steering them back to their apartment, looking over his shoulder this time. ”I landed pretty hard earlier. It’s fine.”

”Think you bruised your tailbone again?”

”No, walking doesn’t hurt. It’ll be fine.” He spun them so Hux could open the door and followed him inside.

Hux extracted himself from Kylo’s grip and turned to look at him. “You switched from ‘it’s fine’ to ‘it’ll be fine’ pretty quick.”

”Well, it is, and it will be. What series do you want to watch?”

”Can you even sit?”

”The couch is plenty cushioned, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

”You’ll have to sit in front of the couch if I’m going to do anything with your hair.”

”I’ll just grab a pillow.”

”Yeah. Okay. I’ll get the donut.” Hux sighed and turned to go to their bedroom. “If it still hurts tomorrow afternoon I’m taking you to the hospital.”

Kylo groaned, but refrained from flopping against the couch like he wanted. “Every nurse there knows my name! Can’t we just leave it alone?”

”If it were me, yes.” The other man called from the bedroom. “You’ll just make it worse if you’re not told by a doctor what not to do.” He exited the room with a small inflated ring in one hand and a hairbrush in the other. On the way back to the living room he stopped in the bathroom and grabbed the younger man’s Darth Vader sticker covered case filled with hair elastics.

Hux pushed the coffee table out of the way, careful of the full mug on its surface, and placed the ring on the ground in front of the couch. The injured man carefully sat on it and grabbed the Xbox controller from the arm of the couch.

”You never answered me.”

”I told you, nothing happened. Just that kind of day, lieber.” The older man assured him as he sat on the couch behind him. He began to card his fingers through the other’s hair, parting it into two sections and wrapping an elastic around one.

Kylo made an aborted movement to look over his shoulder, stopping when he realized Hux had already started. “That’s great, but I was talking about Game Grumps.” He gestured toward the screen with the controller.

”Oh.” Hux blinked at the Xbox’s start-up screen. “We started Sonic Boom the other day.”

”Alright.”

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't fully decided what's going on with Hux here. I briefly toyed with the idea of him having a bad relationship with his parents, but it seemed too easy. Who knows, maybe he was telling the truth and and _was_ just one of those days. I'll figure it out later.
> 
> What I have decided is Hux's parents are second generation immigrants, both from Germany. His mother is fluent in both German and English, but his father is only fluent in English. Hux and his sisters picked up bits of German here and there but use it very rarely. Mostly profanities and terms of endearment. I might work more of it into later stories, but I'm not fluent at all so I might stay away from it just to avoid the hassle.


End file.
